Month: July 2013

As promised here is the next installment of The Wolverine concept art I created last year at Fox Studios Sydney.

Enjoy!

1. First image is the scene where Logan enters the Yukon township. This was shot in a small town here in NSW, Australia called Picton. The concept art is based on photo’s of the main street supplied by production that I stitched together and turned into the Yukon town. For comparison I have included the final shot as shown in the film.

2. The next image shows the bombed ruins of Nagasaki. I don’t have a before image for this as I basically let it evolve from a straight digital painting, then adding photo textures into the painting as I went.

3. The Funeral Pagoda was the one image I worked on several times. The first image here is my first final version. The second image shows the pagoda re-designed as it was deemed too expensive to build the first one. There was another version which was to show the pagoda 30% smaller, again for cost considerations. The 3D model had been built prior by the set designers which was in turn designed around the Chinese Gardens here in Sydney.

4. The Love Hotel Interior was another location designed a couple of times. Here are three versions of the interior based on 3D modeled sets. The final set was built to the third image here. I preferred the second one.

5. The overhanging balcony of the Yashida Estate was an interesting image in that the balcony had already been designed but I hadn’t seen it. What I came up with was befitting a man of Yashida’s position and also inspired by the house in North by Northwest. The original design was small and claustrophobic with very odd curves. Most everyone loved the design I came up with but the set was almost finished. Seems they removed part of the existing set and made allowance for this cleaner design. I have yet to see the film so I don’t know how it turned out.

I built the basic environment and the balcony in Maya adding the Yashida Estate model from the set designers.

Well it’s time, The Wolverine has finally hit the theatre which means I can show off some of the concept art I painted for the film last year. François Audouy was the Production Designer and all round mad man! Just wait till you see the Yashida compound and house set he designed, awesome!

I had the privilege of working with some very talented artists and artisans on this project that blew me away with their skill and creativity! Watching the sets go from concept art, through set drawings through to finished set pieces was great to see, something I never saw working in VFX.

Enjoy!

1. This first image shows the POW camp and it was the first painting I worked on. I painted over a very simple 3D rendering of the huts and guard towers which were placed accurately to the set layout as shot in Kernell, Sydney.

2. This was the first go at an exterior shot of the Love Hotel which is a famous capsule hotel in Tokyo (the script has the hotel in Osaka). This painting was based on a day time shot of the hotel supplied by production which I extended out both sides and turned into a night scene.

3. This was my second painting of the Love Hotel exterior as the first idea was scrapped due to the inability to shoot that sequence in Tokyo. So the location moved to Brisbane Street, Surrey Hills in Sydney. This painting was to show how a Sydney street could be made to look like a Japanese location. I shot the street in daylight, positioned a 3D model of the hotel into the frame and painted it for a night scene.

4. This was similar situation in that a Sydney location had to be set dressed to look like a Japanese location. This was meant to be the Red Light District. And yes for the keen of eye, that is a homage to Chew’s Eye Works from Blade Runner in there!

5. The last image for this post is of the Yukon Airport. I built the basic layout in Maya, placed a 3D jet into the scene and painted everything from there. The actual scene was shot at Bankstown airport here in Sydney and so the hanger details and design had to match.

New painting for Interzone Magazine issue #247 out in print soon. This painting was a great challenge, for a story titled, The Pursuit of the Whole is Called Love by L.S. Johnson. Not in my usual comfort zone but it was fun to do. Was it the right take on the story? I’m not sure, but I’ll leave that up to the readers when it comes out soon.

Here is the painting, enjoy!

And for Kammi who requested a look at my palette. The most intense colour here is the Cad Yellow Lemon and Ultramarine Blue, the rest being mostly earth colours.